The investigation into the death of 18-year-old Florida cheerleader Anna Kepner has taken a sharp and unexpected turn. A new court filing suggests that one of her stepsiblings, who is still a minor, could soon face criminal charges.
This detail surfaced in an emergency motion filed in a divorce case involving Anna’s stepmother, Shauntel Hudson. In the filing, Hudson’s lawyers say she was informed by the FBI that one of her children might be the subject of a criminal case. Because of this, they’re asking to delay an upcoming hearing, calling the situation “extremely sensitive and severe.”
Anna died earlier this month while on a family cruise in the Caribbean aboard the Carnival Horizon. She had been traveling with her father, stepmother and three stepsiblings. The night before she was found, Anna told her family she wasn’t feeling well and went back to her room. When she didn’t come to breakfast the next morning, everyone started searching until a housekeeper discovered her body under the bed in her cabin, according to law enforcement sources.
Investigators are now digging through almost every piece of information they can get. They’re checking surveillance footage, reviewing swipe-card data to see who entered her cabin, and going through her phone records. FBI agents, along with ship security, are interviewing passengers, crew members and Anna’s family.
Carnival Cruise Line says it’s fully cooperating with the investigation. The FBI is leading the case because the death happened in international waters and Anna was a U.S. citizen.
The Miami FBI office is continuing to work closely with cruise ship security as they try to piece together exactly what happened during the final hours of Anna’s life.
